


Seraphim Libertine: Prequel

by Mikleohno



Series: Promiskleo!AU [1]
Category: Tales of Zestiria
Genre: M/M, Promiskleo!AU, Smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-09
Updated: 2017-05-15
Packaged: 2018-10-30 00:29:19
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,397
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10865286
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mikleohno/pseuds/Mikleohno
Summary: Mikleo, a seraph of water travels with his childhood friend Sorey, now the Shepherd,  and discovers his feelings for him. This is a prequel within the Promiskleo!AU, taking place during the events of the Tales of Zestiria game.





	1. Respectfully Unattainable

**Author's Note:**

> Alisha sees Mikleo for the first time, and recognizes he is respectfully unattainable.

The water armatus was truly impressive. Sorey’s abilities and appearance were drastically enhanced by Mikleo, a seraph she had only heard and not seen. They moved in perfect unison, sharing their voices and movement. They handled the bow with ease, sidestepping enemies and mowing them down, one by one. She concentrated fighting off the closest giant centipede with her spear, more defensive than offensive but it was difficult with the swirling blue artes distracting her. They pierced the air to her right, purifying the last centipede. Excited, she ran up to them.

“Wow, that was amazing, you two!”

Sorey turned to face her, in the golden and white regalia of the armatus. In a flash the armatus dissolved, leaving behind an out of breath Sorey, and-

She froze. She saw the seraph, the first one she had ever seen. He stood poised like a guardian at Sorey's side. His sophisticated amethyst eyes scanned for threats protectively. His mouth pursed in a determined pout. His silvery blue-tipped locks framing his sharp, young features. He wore a high collared tunic with corseted belts, dignified twin cape flowing behind. She nearly expected wings on the angelic boy.

 _That must be Mikleo,_ she thought to herself. _He's... Beautiful. Are all seraphs so..._

“Oh, were you able to remove it?”

That must be Lady Lailah. Lailah sauntered up to the boys. She was certainly beautiful as well, with long silvery hair dipped in red and vibrant blue eyes. She wore a red and white contrasting dress with extravagant frills and sleeves. Lailah was saying something, but Alisha was only focused on watching Mikleo. The childish way he folded his arms. How his voice danced, sarcastic and lithe as his body. She watched his expressive mannerisms, and saw his look of determination.

“Mikleo, I wanted to say...” Sorey began.

“Don't thank me. After all, I merely did this for my own dream.” Mikleo said.

“I know that!” Sorey said, playfully elbowing Mikleo. Mikleo reciprocated with a gentle punch to Sorey's stomach. Sorey pretended to be hurt, and while Mikleo’s guard was down he launched a two handed tickle attack. Mikleo was stunned, but retaliated with his own barrage of tickles and...

_Oh._

She watched for a moment. “I feel oddly envious,” she spoke, not realizing that it had been out loud.

“Agreed,” Lailah responded. She paused. “Alisha, don't tell me...”

“Yes. Not only can I hear your voice, I can see you now too.” Alisha smiled.

Sorey paused his tickle assault. “No way! You can see seraphim now?”

Alisha smiled. “I think it just goes to show how strong you've gotten.”

Sorey stumbled. Mikleo stepped forward to catch his friend, but Sorey caught his balance.

_He's so protective of Sorey._

Sorey chuckled. “Maybe we really do have a fighting chance against this Lord of Calamity!”

Mikleo took another step forward. “Sorey,” he said tenderly.

_SO protective._

Alisha addressed the Seraphim, feeling out of place. “Lailah, Mikleo please accept my sincerest gratitude for saving me.”

Mikleo’s arms folded. He squinted, eyes following her. “It was nothing, I assure you.” He faced away. “But you're welcome.”

“I thought we weren't supposed to be thanking you!” Sorey teased. The tickle fight unpaused, and the boys lost themselves in their own world.

“Guess there's no need to worry,” Lailah quipped. The two ladies watched the boys grasping at each other, blocking and weaving. Alisha felt a wave of jealousy.

“Alright,” she spoke up, “the waterfall is just up ahead.” Mikleo dissolved into a wisp, and took residence inside Sorey.

Alisha, though sad she couldn't see the beautiful Seraph in this form, was at least glad to have one less distraction. She followed Sorey, excited to be a part of their group for now, but she knew deep down she did not have a permanent place.

-

Mikleo would never outwardly show it, but the pact and armatus had exhausted him. He'd never felt or used power like that before, and never had to. But he would do anything to protect Sorey. He apprehensively followed Lailah’s lead, and decided to take residence inside his new vessel. He concentrated on dissolving his form into energy. Disoriented, he hadn't expected the confusion without a body to sense. He quickly felt the warm draw of Sorey and willed his energies to him.

Once inside, he relaxed and felt he was recuperating quickly. He had never been inside a vessel before, but the welcoming energy from Sorey must have been unmistakable. He could not only sense what Sorey sensed, but the curious, analytical way he took everything in. He felt Sorey's joy and excitement, reverberating and strengthening his own fascination and determination. Sorey held his fist to his own heart, and Mikleo imagined himself able to bump Sorey's in a show of returned friendship. Sorey smiled, and they continued on their journey.


	2. Elixir Vitae

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mikleo experiences the Gododdin elixir.

It was stupid of him to sip the elixir. He had never done anything as reckless before. Even dumber to sip it twice. His body felt oddly warm immediately, and continued to increase in heat slowly. He fell behind them in Igraine, pushing forward despite the heat distracting him from within.

Lailah recognized the Elixir’s effects on Mikleo. She had seen first hand what this elixir recipe could do. As soon as he mentioned feeling warm, she knew what he was in for. It seemed every few generations dug up the recipe and tried to pass it off as the real thing. She decided to help him as much as possible and asked Rose discretely to armatize with Mikleo as often as she could, and protect him. They needed his element to fight the fire hellions, but Sorey might overexert Mikleo as he had a tendency to do. The plan worked. Sorey kept calling for him, but found Rose armatized with Mikleo first every time. Sorey kept looking back at his friend between battles, but Lailah kept rushing them ahead. Mikleo thanked Rose over and over discretely, as she did her best to use his water artes to cool them down. He felt Roses guilt for giving him the stuff, and she felt his reassurance that she didn't know it would affect him like this. He did his best to not let the effect be felt by her.

They defeat Ekseo and leave the trial, Sorey buzzing with excitement at his new spiritual power. All Mikleo feel was the roaring heat inside his skull. Face flush, he stumbled, Sorey finally confirming something was wrong.

“Mikleo! Are you ok?” Sorey worriedly asked.

“I will be.. I just need rest. I'll be back at the inn. You handle Slenge.”

“Are you sure? I could carry-”

“I'll be fine. I just need to cool down. I'll see you back at the Inn,” Mikleo said, and before Sorey could protest he was already sprinting away. Lailah and Rose looked at each other slyly.

He closed the door with his body. Finally alone, his shaking hands unzipped and opened his coat. He panickedly pulled at the sleeves, finally succeeding in removing one. He continued to paw at his coat, each movement reminding him of his now overly sensitive nipples rubbing raw at his shirt. He mewled pathetically wanting and wishing his best friend Sorey could somehow help him through this, but he was sure his innocent friend had never dealt with anything like this before. And neither had he.

He unzipped his pants, kicking them off narrowly avoiding tripping. He pulled his undershirt off, his overheating body landing on the bed. He squinted his eyes shut, afraid of what he may see. He pushed his underwear down to his knees, flinging it off. His body was an inferno, he had to remove his clothes, he knew he had to, but that's all he figured out so far. His seraphic touch cooled his own skin, bringing relief everywhere his hands brushed. He opened his eyes, curious, horrified and mortified.

His gaze was returned by his penis, standing at attention. He had never seen it like this, full and angry, white with a soft pink head, a glistening bead of _something_ at the tip. He stared at it for a while, and it seemed to stare back.

He remembered back to a human anatomy book he had read. When Sorey hit his early teens and his body started changing, Gramps had shared the book with him. Mikleo had stolen it, of course, and read it cover to cover. He had seen drawings of human reproductive organs, and although his looked similar they had remained dormant.

Well, obviously, something in that elixir woke it up, he thought to himself. Mikleo remembered the vocabulary. This was an erection. Yes. Human arousal is part of the reproductive process, the penis is engorged and prepared to enter a woman and spill his seed.

But there was no reproducing here. And he wasn't human. And he certainly didn't want to put himself near a woman. Or a man, or anyone, for that matter. He didn't know how to deal with this. His only clue was the relief touch brought. He closed his eyes again and brought his open hands to his face, his neck, his chest, his stomach...

He froze. Logically that must be what he had to do. But he hesitated, peeking down, wondering if it would just go away. No such luck, he saw himself still erect. He closed his eyes and delicately wrapped his left hand around _it_.

He immediately bucked his back and let out a muted, cracked moan. His eyes shot open. That felt like relief. More than that. That felt like _pleasure_. He squeezed it, rubbing up and down. He started to get into a rhythm. Liquid was dripping out of himself steadily. He rubbed with his palm, finding pleasure at the contact with his lubricated tip. He stroked his cock firmly with long motions, rubbing the tip with his thumb on the upstroke.

His mind began to wander. If all humans dealt with this. How others did it. What it would feel like in another person, inside their respective parts, or their mouths... He liked the idea of someone kissing it, licking it... He started fantasizing. Someone taking it whole within their mouths, lips squeezing around it and working their tongue on it. He loved the idea, and quickened his rhythm. Gentle lips kissing and rubbing, their hair tickling his thighs, their hands on his legs. Their textured tongue pressing up against the head, swirling around and down the shaft, coming up and playing with the ridge on his tip with the inside of their lip. He is close to something, he doesn't know what. He pushes his mind deeper in the fantasy, looking down he can almost see them. Chestnut brown hair, orange feathered ear cuffs tickling his inner thighs, relaxed vibrant green eyes looking up at him with lust and desire.

 _Sorey_.

Mikleo froze, breaking his momentum and rhythm, feeling whatever was going to happen withdraw. The burning feeling returned. Was he...? Did he?

No matter. He needed to take care of the matter at hand. Logically that was the smart thing to do. He was going to get rid of the burning feeling. He dove head first into the fantasy, imagining Sorey pulling his shirt off and wrapping his muscular arms around Mikleo’s legs, kissing his inner thighs.

Mikleo came quickly at the thought, spreading all over his chest. The gnawing hunger was gone for now. He laid on the bed, catching his breath, staring at the ceiling. Sorey was objectively attractive. He was closer to him than anyone in the world. Yes, of course he would think of Sorey, who else would he spend a private moment like that with? He worked through it logically. He didn't need Sorey to know, and he made up his mind not to taint the pure shepherd with such debaucherous thoughts. He tucked his thoughts behind a curtain of static, in his the innermost reaches of his mind.

Mikleo bathed himself quickly with water artes, feeling both the tendrils on himself and the fingertips they were controlled from. He whisked away the soiled water, and worked his clothing back on. He felt great relief and peace. He added another thought to the static- he would be doing this again, absolutely. He felt awoken and enlightened.

There was a knock at the door. “Mikleo? It's Sorey. Everything ok?”

Mikleo pulled on his undershirt and pants. “yes, I'm feeling much better. Come on in.”

Sorey unlocked the door, his panicked face instantly relieved by seeing Mikleo, relaxed. He sat by his best friend on the bed, and watched him squeeze into his tight blue coat.

“Did you take your clothes off?” Sorey asked innocently.

Mikleo laughed. “Yes, I did. I was overheating in Igraine. But I'm alright now.”

“Good!” Sorey exclaimed, grabbing Mikleo into a hug. “I was so worried about you. I'm glad you feel better.” Sorey smelled of sunshine, meadows and sweat. Mikleo held Sorey by the arms, every touch taking in his muscles and warmth. He pushed Sorey away so he could see his face.

Objectively beautiful. Traditionally handsome. Youthful and kind. He searched Sorey's face, and perhaps took too long staring at his lips.

“Mikleo?” he asked.

Mikleo shook his head. “I'm stronger than you give me credit for. I'm fine, really. It's just I was out of my element.”

“Hey! That was my joke!” Lailah piped from inside Sorey.

Mikleo smiled, briefly, and took one more look at Sorey. His face showed contentment, that Mikleo was Ok so everything was Ok. He dissolved into a wisp and joined the others in their warm, comfortable vessel, finally able to relax.

Oh yes. He would definitely be doing this again.


	3. Rime Slaughter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is based on Mikleo's second Mystic Artes quest, and the unspoken feelings behind his conversations with Sorey.

After much journeying, The group decided to rest at the Ladylake inn. This must be the end of their travels. They had followed every lead, found all the earthen historia, discovered their origins and had nothing more to do than face Heldalf.

One by one, he felt the other exhausted seraphs in Sorey fall asleep. Mikleo found himself too full of apprehension to rest. He decided not to waste the time, and left to visit the water wheel. Being a water seraph, he found being around water calmed him, energizied his mana and cleared his mind.

Mikleo leaned over the railing, water responding in tendrils. He closed his eyes and concentrated on controlling the mana flow through artes, water dancing in shapes and patterns around him. He was always looking for ways to get stronger. He was certainly prideful, keeping up with the other three ancient seraphim in battle, but he knew he could do more. He trained for as long as his exhausted body would permit.

Mikleo headed back to the inn, waiting for another patron to open the door to allow him to sneak in. He didn't wait long, the door swung open and he prepared to quickly slip inside. He moved his body to sidestep in, but found himself face to face with Sorey.

“Training, Mikleo?” Sorey's smile was brighter than a thousand suns.

Mikleo, covered in sweat and breathing heavily froze. He hated the guilt of hiding his constant training, but here was the evidence in front of Sorey.

He opted to fold his arms. “Training? What do you mean?”

Sorey leaned into him. “Never mind,” he said sheepishly. Sorey knew when to pick his battles with Mikleo.

“But what a long way we've come,” Sorey continued. “I never could've imagined it when we first started out.”

They really had grown tremendously. He loved fighting alongside Sorey, always protecting his left, working as one. They fought with little no communication, in sync. His love and admiration for Sorey had grown exponentially. And here, in Ladylake, where it all began, may be one of their last moments together. Mikleo, not wanting Sorey to read his expression, turned away. He had no idea how much longer he had Sorey, and it was eating him up inside.

“Do you remember that time we first left Elysia?” Mikleo quietly asked, slowly making his way back to the room. Sorey followed closely by his right.

“Of course, how could I forget how the world sparkled back then?” Sorey beamed.

 _If only you knew how much you sparkle._ Mikleo loved these solitary moments with Sorey, which were now not often enough.

“I wonder how it would look to us now,” Mikleo pondered.

“Me too,” responded Sorey.

“Why don't we go back to Elysia and take a look?” Mikleo said. _And I can tell you everything, how I really feel._ He pushed that thought away.

“Yeah. Let's go.” Sorey agreed, and opened the door to their room. Mikleo took one more glance at Sorey, memorizing this moment. He pushed his feelings down and returned to his favorite place, within Sorey.

The next morning they set out. Elysia was beautiful as they remembered before the attack. The group split up, giving Mikleo one last opportunity to spend a few moments with Sorey alone. They wandered past the entrance of Elysia to their favorite vantage point. They stood side by side, looking out at their view of Glenwood.

This was it. After this journey, he may never see Sorey again.

“It was a big world out there after all,” Mikleo sighed.

“But don't you think it's still too early to say that?” Sorey asked optimistically. It was true that there was still more of Glenwood they haven't seen, but Sorey wasn't going to be able to. Not now, not anymore.

Mikleo shifted uncomfortably. He wanted Sorey to feel like he had conquered the world, just in case this was goodbye. He pondered his response. “What do you mean? We've been journeying for a long time now.”

“That's true,” Sorey responded. “But remember, we still haven't seen the ‘fire-spewing mountains’ mentioned in the celestial record. Or the ‘land of ice’ that's up in the North.” He paused. “And I'm sure there's even more to the world than that.”

Mikleo wrinkled his nose. “Even more problems,” he said dismissively.

Sorey sighed. “You're right, of course. But problems? We can handle them.” Sorey said, arms akimbo.

Mikleo sighed. “I don't even know how to respond to that.”

“Huh?” Sorey sensed that Mikleo did have a response, something more prepared, and tried to coax it out of him. “Didn't you have something you wanted to say?”

Mikleo panicked. “Did I? I forget,” he retorted.

“Well that's convenient,” Sorey quipped.

“You're not much for conversation anyway,” Mikleo said. _Idiot_ , he thought to himself. _This is your chance and you're going to push him away?_

Sorey looked playfully taken aback. “Harsh, dude!”

That was the encouragement Mikleo needed. He decided then, now was not the time to be selfish. They had to do this, for the sake of the world. But if they came back alive, if he saw Sorey again- no, _WHEN_ he saw Sorey again- he would tell him everything. The way he made his heart flutter. The way he felt empty when he was away. How much he wanted to protect him and although being inside him as a vessel was his favorite place, surely being in his physical embrace would be much better. How badly he desired that embrace, their lips and bodies pressed together. He was determined that this was the future they would have. It had to be.

Mikleo felt a weight lift off of him, and as though something in his mana responded with greatness.

“I'll tell you if I remember,” Mikleo offered.

“For real?” Sorey asked.

Mikleo nodded, eyes closed. “For real.”


	4. Goodbye

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorey finishes his battle with Heldalf. Mikleo must decide what to do now that his best friend is gone.

“Go, Sorey!” Water armatized Sorey aimed. Both having made his peace with the plan, together they fired Siegfreid.

The mysterious power of the gun overwhelmed Mikleo, pushing well beyond the boundaries of any power he had previously felt. It dissolved his physical form into a charged, overloaded wisp. He was the last of the four seraphs to use the power to sever Heldalf’s connection with Maotelus.

Brave and determined, he was launched into Heldalf, feeling the others already pushed past their limits. Their combined energies were now enough to force Heldalf to overload and sever his connection to Maotelus. He felt how it exhausted his energy. He had nothing left to give. All four felt dangerously close to their lights permanently extinguishing.

He didn't understand what was happening, senseless and tired. There was agitation, a long stillness, then quiet. Heldalf had died.

He felt the release from Heldalf’s body. The exhaustion permeated, thoughts still blurry and confused. He felt Sorey’s presence, unable to communicate with him. He seeked his warmth for what would be the last time in a long time, and brushed his cheek in a disembodied kiss. He floated upwards along with the others up and out of the crater, all of them seeking out their new vessel, Rose. Sorey was gone. He would be gone for a long, long time.

“You idiot.” she rocked herself back and forth, tears pouring down her face. “Idiot. You did it. You really did it.” She saw the white light streaming towards the sky through the deep crevasse of the earthpulse and collapsed into sleep, feeling the drained seraphim within her, quiet and pained.

The sun was just starting to rise. Mikleo awoke first, not fully recovered but needing desperately to process what had happened. He had been so focused on acting that he hadn't thought about everything yet. Taking in the reality, it all seemed to hit him quickly. Learning that he had been a sacrifice, a human sacrifice that damned the world. Seeing his mother's own sacrifice, never knowing her. Forced to kill the man who raised him, Gramps. They were great people that gave so much. And Sorey...

Sorey wasn't dead. But for the next who-knows-how-many years, he may as well have been. He would miss Sorey more than anyone. They were never apart for longer than a few hours their whole lives. Sorey was the one person who meant more than anything in the world to him. The thought of being separated from Sorey felt he was choking, but the tears did not come.

He reached out to over the cliff's edge, as though to feel the white light. And what was he to do now? How could he move on in this world without him? Would someone take his place, or would Mikleo be alone forever?

Mikleo’s chest tightened further and nausea washed over him. The malevolence weighed down on him. He cleared his thoughts and focused on breathing. Inhale... Exhale. He purposely slowed his breathing to calm his shaking body. He sat, feet dangling off the edge, as close as he could get to Sorey for now.

Dwelling on the past would open his heart to malevolence. He needed to focus on the future. What they needed first was to secure and seal Sorey, the way Muse had been protecting Camlann. He needed to find out how he could seal Camlann and Maotelus. Until a seal could be formed, Mikleo would stand guard. And he would push his thoughts away to avoid malevolence. He realized with the rest of the team knowing he lost so much, they must have been concerned he was in danger of becoming a hellion, or worse.

Rose sat down by him, legs dangling.

“We did it,” she cooed softly.

Mikleo stared ahead, no response.

They sat for what seemed like hours, thinking. Rose had always felt that Mikleo was somehow both the easiest, and most difficult seraph to talk to in the group. After a while, when she felt all the seraphim had recovered, Rose stood.

“C’mon, Mikleo. It's time to go.”

Silence.

“C'mon, Mik-”

“I'm not leaving.”

“Mikleo...”

“I'm not leaving.”

“Mikleo-”

“I'm not leaving.”

Feeling her frustration, the seraphim manifest from Rose. Mikleo stood and turned from the cliffs’ edge to face them. Lailah gracefully stepped forward.

“Mikleo. I know you're in mourning but please understand. The malevolence here, surely you will-”

“I can't leave. I need to protect him.”

After a while, Zaveid softly spoke. “Mik-boy... You're so damn stubborn.” He folded his arms. “So what's the plan?”

Mikleo thought for a moment, and spoke. “I know you think I'll fall. But I won't. I have to continue my Mother's work and protect Camlann... Maotelus... And Sorey. I have to look forward.” there was a pause. “I won't be here long, just until I know that they're safe.” He looked down at Edna, already poised with her umbrella aimed at him, ready to strike. “Edna, I need your power. Create a path so I can get as close as possible to the crater.” She nodded. “I will cloak the path. Lailah, I need you to burn away any lingering malevolence. And Zaveid, I need you to bring fresh winds with the blessings of the seraphim in Elysia.” He paused. “I know Gramps’ domain isn't there, but their pure hearts will help keep us safe.”

Rose looked at him. He spoke to her now. “Go to Elysia. Tell them what happened here. Tell them to send their blessings. I'll start by sealing Camlann, then any other passages, then the crater itself. Bring me the books from Gramps’ house, he's bound to have something on seals. Once I figure this out, I'll come to you and we can clear the rest of Glenwood of malevolence.”

Zaveid moved forward and grabbed Mikleo’s wrist. “Mik-boy taking charge. I like that, you're becoming Mik-man.” Zaveid grinned honestly. His smile changed to a serious expression. “But if you turn into a dragon on us, I'll be there to take you down.”

“It won't be necessary. I refuse to dwell on the past and invite malevolence in. I have an important duty to fulfill.” he paused. _For Sorey._

Edna huffed and began forming a staircase on the mountain side, grumbling. The others started feeling what needed to be done.

“Good plan, Mikleo.” Rose smiled at him.

Zaveid was right. Rose was right. And he was right. He had taken charge of the situation, like an adult. He smiled to himself, glad to be able to contribute. He was going to grow without Sorey, for his sake and his own, and stay true to his name. Now was the time to be strong. Now was the time to be _The Enforcer._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading this work! This prequel is meant to establish a few ideas that will come up in the next few works in this series. I appreciate you reading it, and hope to express the rest of the story in an enjoyable, legible way :)

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed it. 
> 
> Find me on tumblr at http://mikleohno.tumblr.com


End file.
